NEWS

The fifth and final multi-partite review of the Pacific Adaptation to Climate Change (PACC) Project, scheduled to finish in December 2014, was conducted in Nadi, Fiji. The PACC Project is a partnership funded by Australia and the Global Environment Facility (GEF), with the UN Development Programme (UNDP) as implementing agency and the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) as implementing partner.

The first major climate change adaptation initiative in the Pacific region, the PACC Programme has been laying the groundwork for more resilient Pacific communities by working to enhance adaptive capacity on the ground, and driving the mainstreaming of climate risks into national development planning and activities.

The PACC project has three main components: helping effect policy change through strengthening mainstreaming of climate change; carrying out demonstration projects; and developing tools and resources.

Opening the review meeting, which was held in Fiji from 28 July to 1 August 2014, Netatua Pelesikoti, SPREP Director of Climate Change, described the PACC as the largest regional climate change adaptation project that has “enabled implementation of practical and tangible results on the ground.” Among others, the PACC project has helped improve water reservoir and management systems in the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Tonga, Tuvalu and Niue; and catalyzed the launch of a renovated harbor in the Cook Islands and new climate change resilient food crops in Fiji and Solomon Islands.

The PACC Project countries are the Cook Islands, Fiji, Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tokelau, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. [SPREP Press Release] [PACC Website] [IISD RS Story on PACC Focus on Replication and Up-Scaling] [IISD RS Story on PACC Focus on Gender] [IISD RS Story on PACC Focus on Outcomes of PACC Cost Benefit Analysis] [IISD RS Story on PACC Upgrading Water Reserves and Monitoring in Marshall Islands] [IISD RS Story on PACC Supporting Launch of Solomon Islands' Climate Change Policy]